November, 2023
Fair District GA Stance on Court-Ordered Redistricting:
On October 26, 2023, Judge Steve Jones of Federal District Court issued a landmark ruling about Georgia’s 2021 district maps for Congress and State Legislature. He ruled that these maps violate the Voting Rights Act by preventing Black voters from electing candidates of their choice. His detailed, 516-page ruling disqualifies the existing maps and orders the State of Georgia to enact new maps by December 8, 2023.
This order is the most significant blow against gerrymandering in Georgia – in this case racial gerrymandering – since a 2004 Federal Court decision struck down the partisan gerrymander produced by the Democratic-controlled state legislature in 2001.
Governor Kemp has called for a special legislative session beginning on November 29 to enact new maps. The legislature will have only 8 working days to complete its task. No doubt, draft maps are already being prepared and discussed behind closed doors.
We urge the legislature to adopt a more transparent process than was used in November 2021 when these flawed maps were enacted. In that session, initial draft maps were released only days before committee hearings. Furthermore, they were changed and re-released only hours before – and in one case after – the committee(s) met in public and immediately voted. The bottom line is that very few Georgians had a meaningful chance to analyze and comment on the maps which would affect elections for a decade. The legislature was warned that the maps were deficient with respect to districts containing a majority of Black voters, but they adopted no corrections.
Fair Districts GA, along with 34 other pro-democracy organizations, recently sent a letter to legislative leadership and the relevant House and Senate Committees with specific recommendations for this special session.
This moment is different than 2021 for a few reasons.
First, the court has ordered very specific remedies – additional Black majority districts in Congressional, State House, and State Senate maps in specific regions of the state. There is no need to extensively redraw the maps. We believe that changes should be limited to those required to implement the new Black majority districts, with neighboring districts adjusted to equalize population.
The committees should reject any attempt by members of either party to incorporate other changes for partisan political purposes. The court record established that the 2021 maps were intentionally drawn to achieve partisan objectives. The partisan balance of the maps may in fact change as a result of the remedies, but there should be no attempt to “even the score” by changing unrelated districts. This temptation should be resisted.
Second, because the time frame is so short and the map changes should be fewer, maps should be released as soon as possible. Analyzing maps takes time; the public should have access well before the legislative session commences. And to make it easier to understand what’s changed, the legislature should release additional information with the maps, beyond the simple demographic breakdown normally provided. The software used by legislative staff has the capability to provide much more information that can highlight the changes and demonstrate compliance with the court-ordered remedies.
Third, citizens from the affected areas should be given an opportunity to be heard. Remote testimony should be allowed and encouraged. Written testimony should be accepted and reviewed.
Judge Jones summed up the situation well: “The Court commends Georgia for the great strides that it has made to increase the political opportunities of Black voters in the 58 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite these great gains, the Court determines that in certain areas of the State, the political process is not equally open to Black voters….In the past decade, all of Georgia’s population growth was attributable to the minority population, however, the number of majority-Black congressional and legislative districts remained the same….The Court issues this Order to ensure that Georgia continues to move toward equal openness and equal opportunity for everyone to participate in the electoral system.”
We know from our statewide polling that a majority of voters across demographic and racial groups support maps that reflect Georgia’s growing diversity. And they support drawing maps in a non-partisan manner that offer truly competitive choices.
Enacting redistricting plans that comply with the court order and without partisan manipulation would be a major milestone in Georgia’s journey to Free and Fair Elections. Georgia voters expect nothing less.